Trouble On The Ponderosa
by 1monster2
Summary: When Little Joe gets kidnapped while investigating some people mining outside of the Ponderosa, can Adam and Hoss find-and rescue-him before Ben gets back from a cattle rancher's convention in San Francisco? Rated T to be cautious
1. Trouble for Little Joe

**Hi, everyone! This is my first Bonanza fanfic, and I'm writing it for a very special occasion. Today is the birthday of one of my favorite fanfic writers, and one of my favorite people to hang out with in the entire world (as well as being my mentor), KayValo87. I love her so much. She's the one who introduced me to Bonanza, and so this fanfic is dedicated to her. It's mostly from Little Joe and Adam's points of view, and it makes reference to some Bonanza episodes I've seen, or a couple of KayValo87's stories- "San Francisco Holiday" (episode), "The Meaning of Forgivness" (fanfic about Hoss, not out yet), "Blood on the Land" (episode)...and some other ones that I can't remember. Anyways, please rate and review, and KayValo87-have an AMAZING birthday!**

"Now, boys," Ben said gruffly, "I don't want to hear of you three causing any trouble while I'm down in San Francisco, d'ya hear?"

"Yes, Pa." Little Joe smirked. "I'll keep an eye on everyone." Ben chuckled. Little Joe needed someone to keep an eye on _him! _Adam and Hoss at least didn't go looking for trouble. Little Joe, it seemed, found it at every corner.

"I'll be taking Hop-Sing with me, and Joe's volunteered to do the cooking." he continued. To Adam (who was standing next to him), he muttered, "I'd advise _not _being home for supper, or at least not any supper that involves Little Joe using sharp knives." Adam chuckled under his breath, and agreed. Ben mounted his horse. "I won't be gone long." he said. "The cattle rancher's conference should be done in a few days, though why they're having it at the Barbary Coast is beyond me-"

"Why no one listen to Hop-Sing? Hop-Sing tell all you-Barbary Coast no good!" The cook cried, riding up on another horse. "Mister Ben go to Barbary Coast, get shanghaied again!" All of the Cartwrights chuckled. "We'd better get going," Ben murmured. He looked back down at his sons. "Be good, all of you." he said. They nodded.

"Come on, Pa," Hoss smiled. "We're always good." Ben snorted, and then headed out, with Hop-Sing and a few of the hands following. As soon as the company was out of range, the brothers turned to each other. "So, what're we doing before supper?" Adam asked.

"I'm going to check on Chub. He's been acting a little finicky lately." Hoss replied. Adam nodded. "Little Joe, how about you?"

"I'm gonna go into town for a little while. Get some stuff for dinner, and maybe chat with Roy a little." And with that, he was off, swinging up onto _his _horse, and headed out for the town.

*V*I*R*G*I*N*A* C*I*T*Y*

By the time Little Joe arrived in town, it was half-past one. He figured he had a while until supper, since the Cartwrights didn't eat before five. He stopped by the sheriff's office to chat with Roy, and then, after going shopping a little, headed back to the Ponderosa. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he started to hear the sounds of metal clinking, horses neighing, and men shouting. Joe paused for a moment, wondering if he should investigate the strange noises. "Curiosity killed the cat-and Joe's an awfully skinny cat." Adam always said. This time, he felt that he couldn't help himself, and he headed up the hill after tethering his horse to a tree nearby. The climb took him awhile, and he couldn't help but wonder if he shouldn't just go back down the hill and forget about it. The view at the top of the hill dissuaded that notion, however. Across from Little Joe, on the other side of a large plain, was an old mine. It was one of those ones where the minerals that could be mined were too deep for anyone to risk their lives mining them. The mine was near the outskirts of the Ponderosa. Men were swarming in and out of it, carrying pickaxes, sticks of dynamite, and other things that could be used in a mining operation. "What are they doing with that old mine?" Little Joe mused to himself. That wasn't all. Little Joe's sharp eyes picked out a sea of white behind the mens' camp and behind all the activity surrounding the mine. "Let's move it, boys!" a sharp voice bellowed. "We've got to get the sheep away from the mine and through this here countryside by next Tuesday!" And with a sweeping gesture, the man pointed towards the Ponderosa. "There's no way in heck that they're taking their sheep across our land!" Little Joe fumed angrily. "Didn't we already prove we wouldn't take such nonsense with Drummond?" In his frustration, he was about to charge down to the camp and ask the leader who he thought he was, taking his sheep across private land. Then, he took a deep breath, raised his gun, and shot three times into the air. (this was a signal between him and his brothers that let them know that the one shooting was in trouble or that they found something important. Little Joe's was three shots, Adam's was two, and Hoss's was one-which corresponded to the syllables in their names.) Everything was quiet for a moment. Then, one of the men from the camp glared into the trees. "Look! A spy!" he yelled. Little Joe turned to run-and ran straight into a frying pan swinging towards him with the force of an angry bull-or, for those on the wrong end-with the force of an angry Hoss. Little Joe dropped to the ground. He was out like a light.

*T*H*E* P*O*N*D*E*R*O*S*A*

By the time Adam returned to the house from doing his chores around the ranch, Hoss was inside reading the paper. His hat was lying on the top of a catapult that looked like it had hastily been put back together. Hoss had broken it a couple days before his sixteenth birthday, when Adam and Little Joe had used it to throw cake at him. Needless to say, the catapult couldn't survive the full power of an angry Hoss, but the boys had rebuilt it later, and now it just reminded them of a good memory-mostly. Hoss was using it to store his hat instead of the usual hat rack for two reasons. One, the "bowl" of the catapult was big enough to hold his large hat, and two, the hat rack was still being mended after Little Joe tried to use it as a battering ram.

"Any good news?" Adam called out as he entered.

"No, sir, unless you like hearing about the guv'nor of Mississippi losin' his toupee during his speech." Adam laughed. Hoss was right-there wasn't any good news. He opened the kitchen door to inquire after Little Joe-only to find that the person he was looking for simply wasn't there.

"Hey, Hoss...shouldn't Little Joe be making supper right about now?"

"Why, yes he should-but you know Little Joe. He probably got stuck in town looking after some girl. Or, I should say, looking _at _her."

"Still, it's getting late. Shouldn't one of us..."

"Don't worry about Little Joe. He's plenty good at taking care of himself." Suddenly, the two men heard three shots ringing through the air-Little Joe's signal. "Well, maybe now..." Hoss began, and the two grabbed their hats, and headed out the door.

**So, what's going to happen to Little Joe? Will Adam and Hoss find him in time? Sorry this chapter ended on such an evil cliffe, but I'm kinda pressed for time. Please rate and review (again, this is my **_**first **_**Bonanza fic), and the next chapter should be up soon! Thanks!**

**~1monster2**


	2. ARE YOU NUTS?

**Hey, everyone! Sorry this chapter's taken so long to put up-I haven't been able to get on and type lately…and I basically make the story up as I type it on the computer, so….super happy today, because I checked out a bunch of Bonanza DVD's from the library….watched every single episode on the first disc except for two, ("Bitter Water" and "The Gunmen"…surprised I haven't watched the latter yet), and am watching the second disc as I write this. It's nice to be watching Bonanza while writing it, ain't it? Now, back to the story…..**

As Adam and Hoss exited the house, one of the hands ran up to them, out of breath. "Adam! Hoss! We found Joe's horse coming back from Virginia City!" The two men followed the hand and found a couple others escorting Little Joe's horse, Cochise. The horse didn't look very bad, just a little winded. "Whatever happened to Little Joe, doesn't look like it happened to him on his horse." Hoss murmured. Adam nodded. There was nothing to indicate that his little brother had been dragged off of his horse, or worse-shot at and hit on his horse. "We'd better head out and find him." Adam told Hoss.

"Right-but…what'll we tell Pa?" Hoss queried. "You know he'll hightail it back here as soon as he hears that-"

"He's _not _going to hear about it, Hoss. We can take care of it before he gets back at the end of the week. He'll get home, and we'll all be here, like nothing happened." Hoss sighed, and then nodded. "All right, Adam. We'll do it your way. But what if Pa gets home, and we ain't back yet, or Little Joe's….you know…what then?"

"I don't know, Hoss…but I'm sure it won't come to that." Hoss nodded, and the two went to saddle their horses.

*T*H*E* M*I*N*E*

Little Joe slowly woke up. He had a pounding headache, which he attested to the frying pan that hit him in the face. There was a glaring light in front of him. He blinked about a million times to get used to it, and then cautiously opened his eyes. He was tied to a tree, and his hands were bound. "He's awake, Bob!" a man called. The man had brown hair and hazel eyes. He looked to be around twenty, perhaps even younger. "Here," he said, kneeling down. He handed Little Joe a small loaf of bread. "I made sure it's still hot."

"Thanks." Little Joe replied gratefully. He took a bite of the bread, noticing that the man stayed standing next to him while he did so. "What's your name?" Little Joe asked. The man looked down at him. "I'm Hank." he said. "'N what's your name?"

"I'm Joe. Joe Cartwright." The man showed some sort of recognition at his name, but just then, "Hank! Come over here!" Hank looked ruefully down at Little Joe, and then headed over to Bob. "What is it?" he asked.

"Hank, my boy, I want you to get the sheep moving across this land here. We need to get across it quickly."

"Yes, sir…what is that land called, anyways? It seems to have a name on the map…" Bob looked down at the map. "Oh, it's something called the 'Pindyrosa'." Hank looked down at the map. "No, it's the _Ponderosa_." he said. For a second, the name didn't mean anything to him. Then, he suddenly looked over at Little Joe, then at the map, then back at Little Joe, then at the map. "ARE YOU NUTS?" he cried. "If we cross the Ponderosa…." He hastily turned to Little Joe. "Is Mr. Cartwright there?" Little Joe shook his head. "Are Mr. Adam and Mr. Hoss there?" Little Joe nodded his head. "Ah, man…do you have a death wish or something?" Bob grabbed his shirt collar. "When you joined our company, you agreed to do what I told you to! Now _GET THOSE SHEEP MOVING!_" Bob then shoved him backwards. Hank looked at Little Joe one more time, and then sighed. "Yes, sir." he snarled.

**So what's going to happen next? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find that out! Please keep reading and reviewing…and a tremendous amount of thanks to the people who already reviewed…this is my most reviewed story! **


	3. Adam and Hoss Do Some Detective Work

_**Hello, everyone! I am terribly sorry about how long this chapter has been in coming out….once my finals were done, I should have had time, but I just kept getting busy, so…anyways, here it is! By the way, be sure to check out my new Merlin fanfic- "Merlin and Lady Alliana"…the first chapter's pretty short, but it should pick up steam soon….I will also soon (hopefully) be starting a new Bonanza/Big Valley Joe-whump and Heath-whump story…so look out for that! I think that's all the announcements for now, so…enjoy Chapter Three!**_

*V*I*R*G*I*N*I*A C*I*T*Y*

As Hoss and Adam rode into Virginia City, the four o' clock stage was just pulling in. "Three hours now since Little Joe's gone missing." Hoss murmured. "Where do you suppose that little brother of ours could gone to, Adam?"

"I don't know, Hoss." Adam replied. He looked around curiously, as if he expected to see Little Joe behind any corner. "I hope Roy will have an idea."

As they rode up to the sheriff's office, Roy was just emerging for a coffee break, leaving one of his deputies inside. He looked up, noticed the two Cartwrights, and waved. "Howdy, boys!" he said. "Lovely day, isn't it?" The two brothers nodded as they dismounted and walked over. Roy could see that they looked a bit…not nervous, that wasn't the right word. Jumpy, he decided. Jumpy, and definitely more than a bit concerned. "Roy, you haven't happened to see Little Joe today, now have you?"

"Why, yes, I did. He had just bought some supplies for you boys' supper, and he stopped by to chat for a little while before he started back for the Ponderosa. Has he gone missing?"

"Yes sir," Hoss began, "we haven't seen him since he left for town this afternoon." Roy gaped at the two of them. Then, he stuck his head inside the sheriff's office. "Foster, I'm going to help the Cartwright boys try to find Little Joe. I'll be back in a little while." The deputy nodded, and went back to polishing his rifle as Roy swung up on his horse and trotted after the boys.

"You're sure he headed back to the Ponderosa?" Adam asked Roy, who nodded.

"I'm sure of it. I saw him heading that way out of Virginia City myself." Adam and Hoss nodded, and turned their horses to point in the direction that Little Joe would have been moving once he left the city.

"Hang on, little brother. We're coming." Hoss murmured under his breath.

*T*H*E* P*O*ND*E*R*O*S*A*

After Hank cut Little Joe loose from the tree, helped him stand up, and got him to mount one of their horses, the group set off. Little Joe's horse was tied to Hank's, so that he couldn't try to run away without pulling the sheepherder along with him. One of the other men held a gun pointed at his back. "Hank? What were you all doing at that mine? I thought the gold was too deep to be…" Hank cut him off.

"It wasn't. Well, most of it was, and still is, but there was one tunnel that wasn't exhausted yet. Bob made us blockade that tunnel until after the inspector left, so that we could keep mining it without anyone trying to cut in on us. The mining men are back there now, mining away." Little Joe nodded thoughtfully. He had heard of a few men like this, who weren't exactly legal and honest about their practices. "Why are you working for Bob, Hank?" he asked. Since he had nothing to do, Little Joe figured it would be a good idea to collect information, and Hank a good person to get it from. He wasn't disappointed. "Bob's my mother's brother's wife's brother-so I guess you could say he's my aunt's brother. He sent her a letter a while ago asking if my aunt knew of any fine, strapping young men who would like to try their hand at sheepherding." Hank sighed, looking out at the horizon. "I wish I had just said no." He suddenly turned to Little Joe. "What would your pa and brothers do if they found us driving sheep across your land?"

"Well, we've had this happen once before, as a matter of fact." Little Joe told him. "A man named Jeb Drummond attempted to drive his sheep across our land. Pa tried to take the law into his own hands, like normal, only in this case, it got my brother Adam kidnapped. Eventually, Pa sent me for the sheriff, while he and Hoss went to go talk to Drummond again. I figure Pa would send for the sheriff, and if he didn't, Adam and Hoss would force him to. Unfortunately, Pa's not here…only Adam and Hoss are." The two men looked at each other, and then away. Suddenly, Hank broke the silence, speaking much more quietly then before. "Joe, if I can figure out a way to help you escape, I will. I was against this whole plan from the start." Little Joe looked at him and smiled. "I will do the same." The two men smiled at each other, glad to have found a friend out of all of this.

_**Well well, not so bad of a cliffie this time… **____** Now it's time for Little Joe and Hank to start planning their escape… **____** Wonder how hard that will be! The next chapter will be coming out soon, I promise! (This chapter was the hardest one to write so far…the next ones should be much easier. Hopefully…) Talk to you all soon! Oh, and in response to captain cab's review (and PM), yes, this is definitely going to be a Joe-whump story…just as soon as I get to the whumping part.**_

_**-1monster2**_


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